Part II After GSD: Ch. 1

"I have to say though, you're no Lacus."

"Shut up!" Yelled a certain silver haired coordinator.

The songstress giggled and blushed as she watched a certain blonde give Yzak a noogie. "Congratulations, Yzak." She greeted.

"Thanks." The boy replied almost incoherently.

It's been ten months since the war following the fall of Junius 7 on earth. The world, not to mention space, was thrown into a state of anarchy and chaos after they found out that the PLANT supreme chairman, Gilbert Dullindal, was dead. Finally, two days ago, the Plant supreme council came to a unanimous decision. They elected Ezeria Joule the new chairman—err—woman.

Sp technically, that did make Yzak the new Lacus.

Though I honestly doubt you'd spot him prancing around on a stage singing to soldiers anytime soon. Not unless he's drunk at least.

Today was Ezeria's inauguration ball. Representatives from most of the nations of earth were present to show their support and of course, to sign yet another peace treaty.

While the grown up were all in a corner scribbling their initials on parchment, here were a group teenagers, finally rightfully proclaimed war heroes, joking around like normal teenagers do. These were none other than Yzak Joule, Dearka Elthman, Lacus Clyne and Athrun Zala. Soon after she had given her own signature, they were joined by the Orb Union's rep., Cagalli Yula Attha.

"Elthman! Joule! It's been a while!" She greeted her friends.

Yzak replied with a usual grumble. Dearka seemed more hospitable.

"Hey! So how are you taking care of our Athrun here?" He turned his elbow's attention from Yzak's platinum one to Athrun's blue head.

"I daresay he's the one who takes care of me." She joked.

"Like a good husband should." Yzak said, half approving, half smirked.

Both Cagalli and Athrun stopped in their tracks and blushed madly.

"How did you—?"

The silver haired boy pointed to the blonde girl's decorated left hand. "Kind of a dead giveaway, don't you think?"

The couple blushed even more. Athrun mumbled something to himself that sounded like a muffled "not yet." Then, he tried to swerve the attention to his tanned friend. "I don't see a woman on your arm tonight, Elthman. Did you run out of cash or something, or did you just want to pick one out here?" He smirked.

"Nope. I'm flying solo." Dearka said proudly, waving away his hand.

"So I've heard." Cagalli whispered to Lacus.

The songstress tried to stifle a laugh.

"Huh?" Dearka noticed her sniggers and turned to the two girls.

"Oh nothing." Cagalli snapped.

The tan boy raised an eyebrow. Lacus covered her mouth.

He would have proceeded to pester them further about what was so funny, had he not heard a familiar low voice call for him. He turned to confirm that it was Tad Elthman, his father, who was calling him. Obediently, he followed. Once he was gone, Yzak snapped his head to the girls.

"What was that all about?" He demanded. If there was something that could screw around with Dearka, he had to know.

The two girl exchanged amused looks.

"It's just that when Milly returned to the Archangel…" Cagalli burst out laughing before she could finish her story. Regaining her composure, she went on. "She told us and the rest of the crew that she had dumped Dearka." It took all her saved discipline not to fall out of her chair, plus the reminder that Dearka was just a few feet away.

When Cagalli finished her laughing narrative, Athrun made a snorting sound that would have probably become a full blown laugh if he had let it out. That would explain the weird reaction she had when he mentioned meeting Dearka that day he they ran into each other when he was in search for the Archangel.

Lacus chuckled uncontrollably.

"Poor Dearka."

Yzak on the other hand, didn't find the whole ordeal as amusing. Little did they know that he was actually there when the two broke up. More so, he helped.

While the bunch was still busy laughing their heads off, Yzak shrugged. "How is Milly?"

Lacus immediately stopped laughing and blinked her clear blue eyes twice. Cagalli just starred, her head frozen in a thrown back position.

"She's…uh…good." She replied. "Um… She and her folks live with Kira permanently now, though she still travels as a photographer." The blonde explained, still a bit shaken.

It was a strange thing already that Yzak would actually care. It was something of a phenomenon that he called her "Milly" which suggested they were actually close.

Suddenly Dearka returned, looking like he had just been dragged out of bed. The young coordinator put a hand on his best friends shoulder and said, unusually grimly, "Guess who's the new commander of the Voltaire."

Yzak scoffed. "Good luck."

"Sure, you get to sit your ass on a comfy armchair with all the bigshots while I get my ass shot at."

"Touché."

Dearka slumped back on his seat and sighed. "And here I though I'd have time to actually relax after the war."

"Can we ever?" Athrun pointed out.

"Hardly."

Athrun was sitting up on the bed with his laptop on his lap while Cagalli ate breakfast on the coffee table in the hotel room they shared while in the PLANTS. It was the morning after the party and Cagalli's mind still wasn't at rest. She ate with a dazed expression on her face.

"Athrun?"

"Mmm?" The justice pilot replied without looking up from his work.

"Dow you think…" She hesitated. "Do you remember Milly ever telling us why she actually dumped Dearka?"

Athrun looked up from the screen then turned to his fiancé, raising his brow. "Come to think of it, no. I guess no one bothered dwell on the subject. She didn't seem to want to." He winked for a split second then his face was serious again. "Why?"

"Nothing…Probably nothing. It was just Yzak. He seemed awfully concerned yesterday. Too concerned in fact, for someone who's hardly even talked to her properly. Especially for someone like him and in his position."

"His position as what?"

"As Dearka's best friend."

Athrun made no move to reply.

"Do you think…" Cagalli went on. "Do you think he's the reason?"

"What?" Athrun suddenly seemed more interested.

"Do you think Yzak likes, or liked, Milly and that's why it didn't work out between her and Elthman?"

At this point, the blue haired boy's eyebrows had disappeared to somewhere up his hairline.

"No… Yzak? It can't be. He wouldn't…She's not his…"

'Could it?'

Trying to brush the very weird thought away, he tried to counter it.

"That's impossible. For as long as I can remember, Yzak has never had a girlfriend nor has he shown any intention—or ability—to get one. He's a complete chauvinist! The closest a girl has ever been to Yzak was this one girl who was rumored to have a crush on him back in the academy, Shiho Hahnenfuss. Of course the jerk scared her away. And besides, she was kind of…weird…to begin with."

"Why?" Cagalli asked intently.

"Well, she's in the military too now, serving under none other than our platinum blonde friend. And let's just say she wears the men's uniform to work instead of the women's standard outfit." Athrun shrugged. "I don't have to tell you that the rumor was very soon disproved."

The blue haired boy turned to find the blonde raising her eyebrow at him.

"And what's wrong with wearing pants?"

Athrun sweat dropped.

"NOTHING! Nothing at all."

The rest of the day the couple was bothered by that conversation and by Yzak's strange attitude. In fact, the remained bothered all the way to his office, where they planned to meet to discuss a certain songstress' security escort.

They arrived there to find Lacus already seated in front of the large oak desk and Yzak sitting impatiently behind it. Thankfully, it seemed Dearka was nowhere to be found.

So instead of discussing bodyguards and dummy Lacuses, (Haven't we already had enough of that? One Meer was one too many already. Ugh.) they decided to confront him about his awkward behavior.

…

"WHAT?" Yzak nearly fell out of his seat.

If hid ass didn't hit the floor, his jaw almost did.

"Are you all insane?!" He yelled, slamming his fists on his desk.

Cagalli Yula Attha was now wearing a scowl.

"Why are you so defensive then?"

Athrun sniffed and Lacus blinked, both waiting for a sensible answer.

"I—I was…" he sighed then sat back down. "I was there."

"Huh?"

"I was there when those two love sick puppies broke up, alright?! " He admitted. "And trust me it wasn't pretty. I was just wondering how she was doing because Dearka wasn't so well after that, himself."

"And what on earth were you doing there?" Athrun scowled at him.

"I was…" Yzak said a-matter-of-factly "…supporting a friend."

"Cagalli gave a snort. "Right."

"He needed my help, alright?" the silver haired coordinator defended. "he was a mess. If I weren't there, he would have chickened out."

"You're saying he planned to break up with Milly?"

Yzak didn't meet their eyes when he nodded. "That's exactly what I'm saying." After looking up to see their violent expressions, he shrugged. "It was for the best."

"Why?"

For a moment, he couldn't answer. Maybe it was guilt…or nausea.

"The guy was going to be put through trial! You know what came after that. What else was he supposed to do, drag her with him?"

Those who had just finished ridiculing his looked ashamed.. the room was silent. Everyone looked regretful.

Everyone that is, except Lacus Clyne.

It was Athrun who first noticed that the pink haired girl was actually smiling, more so, she wore a mischievous expression. That was an expression no one was ever comfortable seeing Lacus Clyne wear.

"What is it?" he dared ask.

She ignored him, and turned to the man behind the desk.

"Yzak, would you say Dearka is the jealous type?"

The question first surprised the councilor. Then it made him think.

"I don't really know. The subject never seemed to apply to him."

"Are you willing to test him for that trait, then?"

"What are you thinking of now, Lacus?" Cagalli said worriedly.

The songstress' smile didn't show any signs of shrinking anytime soon. Ignoring the princess now, Lacus continued to address Yzak.

"Cagalli's right, you know." She said, making the one just mention to stare at her curiously. "You do show acceptable concern for Ms. Hawke. Perhaps…enough for something romantic?" She giggled at her last sentence.

"What. The. Hell?"

"The war is over." Lacus said triumphantly. "and I believe we should give those two a second chance at romance." If not for the actual words coming out if her mouth, she would have actually sounded like she was making sense."

"And you plan do this…by setting Milly up with Yzak?"

"It's basic alpha male instinct." She told them confidently. "If someone steps into his territory, Dearka will naturally want to take back what is his"

"You're crazy, you know that?" Yzak protested.

"It won't be believable." Cagalli pointed out.

"Besides, Miriallia'll never agree. She hates my guts as much as she hates his." The silver haired boy scoffed.

"Oh, she doesn't have to know." Lacus said cheerfully.

"What?! You expect me to be her boyfriend…and not tell her?"

"You only have to be nice to her when Dearka's around." She smiled at him.

"Ugh. My head hurts." The blonde complained.

"It's very simple, really. We just need to be discreet." The songstress assured.

The whole time she was talking, Yzak was giving Lacus a deathly stare. Finally, he decided that he'd humor the girl for a while. Then maybe he'd learn who was it that dropped this girl on her head when she was a baby. He intended to have that nanny shot…or cremated. Whichever was quieter.

"Sound easy enough." He smirked.

The other two people in the room gawked at him.

Lacus wasn't crazy, she was sick! And it's contagious!

"One thing though," Yzak pointed out. "She's on earth while up here in the PLANTS."

The songstress gave him a wide toothy grin.

"Councilor Joule…About my security escorts…"

"I feel like I've been demoted." The blonde boy grumbled.

"You said you didn't want to have your ass shot at as commander, didn't you?" Yzak hushed him. "Well here you go."

"Damn. At least I play the part. What guard brings a secretary with him?" he snapped at his so-called best friend, motioning towards the young brunette that walked behind them.

"Just do your job Elthman. Leave me to do mine."

Dearka rolled his eyes as the two stepped out of the shuttle and into the bright earthly sunshine. A rough low voice from a speaker announced their arrival.

"Peace Advocate, Miss Lacus Clyne and her escorts."

Lacus, who was ahead of them smiled as she spotted one of her close friends rushing towards her. She met the redhead with a hug.

"Lacus! I'm so glad you're back. How was PLANTS?"

"Miriallia! It was very good. Guess who volunteered to be my bodyguards!"

"Milly!" greeted Yzak, pulling the redhead into a tight hug of his own.